


Stock Imagery

by InkedFountainPen



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Alex Kralie POV, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Gen, No Beta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27004255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkedFountainPen/pseuds/InkedFountainPen
Summary: In highschool, Alex had an English teacher that loudly repined the use of "stock imagery" (a less cliché way to refer to clichés).And Alex had known he wanted to make something special, so he listened.
Kudos: 3





	Stock Imagery

In highschool, Alex had an English teacher that loudly repined the use of "stock imagery" (a less cliché way to refer to clichés). An audience rarely wants to hear about 'hot chocolate in a snow-covered, log cabin', 'the heat of the desert sun', or the 'gilded joy of the good old days' because it doesn't provide any new information. There isn't anything special.

And Alex had known he wanted to make something special, so he listened.

\--

The tirade was something Alex remembered for a long time. He remembered it when he'd declared his major. He remembered it whenever he got settled into his seat in the lecture hall. He remembered it when he got the requirements for his first student film. He remembered it when he resolved to start working on a project of his own. After that,

Nothing. The tape ends there.

It wasn't the only thing he'd lost. 

His possessions had long since started to rearrange without his knowledge. Posters would go missing from their place on the wall. The markers he bought, to label the ever-increasing pile of tapes, found their way into the trash. The nibs were always abused and dried out. Notebooks that he used for classes were missing far too many pages.

He had misplaced some of his memories too. Important moments like hugs from his grandmother, marathons of Jeopardy and Whose Line Is It Anyway with Jay, jamming out on Tim's keyboard in the rain, and beating Brian at card games simply vanished.

His friends from college were gone too. They weren't just absent. They were gone.

He dealt with Sarah first. Unlike Brian, his female lead actually showed up to things. It wasn't difficult to set up an evening shoot with just the two of them. He just had to wait. When _that thing_ had finally arrived, Sarah had been so shocked she'd stopped breathing.

Maybe it wasn't shock. Maybe it had something to do with the bruises on her neck.

Seth followed after that. Telling Seth that they needed to work together to "find Sarah" was the first time Alex hadn't needed to repeat himself. It was a nice change, until Alex had to repeatedly introduce Seth to a cement block.

His luck ran out after Seth and Sarah. It didn't return for Tim, Brian, and Jay.

He hadn't wanted it to return for Amy. He lost her too.

The rest of it sped by him like trees seen from a moving vehicle. His glasses went missing somehwere down the road. More time disappeared. More friends were gone.

\--

He was actually drowning. He was choking on his own blood. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't feel the floor. His ears were ringing. He was going to die.

But, he could remember. Alex decided that after all this, he had earned the right to invoke stock imagery.

So as he was choking, wheezing, fighting, and failing; Alex Kralie resolutely longed for the "good ol' days".


End file.
